The invention relates generally to agricultural equipment, such as harvesters, and more specifically, to a self-adjusting object deflector for an agricultural harvester feeder.
A harvester may be used to harvest agricultural crops, such as barley, beans, corn, cotton, flax, oats, rye, soybeans, wheat, grass seed, or other plant seed bearing crops. Moreover, a combine (e.g., combine harvester) is a specific type of harvester generally used to harvest grains (e.g., barley, corn, flax, oats, rye, soybeans, wheat, etc.). Accordingly, a combine may be used to separate a plant into different agricultural materials, such as separating corn ears from the stalks. During operation of a combine, the harvesting process begins by removing a portion of the plant from the ground via a cutting and gathering device (e.g., a header). The combine then moves the plant from the header into the combine with a feeder system. Once inside the combine the plant undergoes processes that separate it into different agricultural materials (e.g., stalks, ears, grain, etc.).
A combine that harvests corn may include, a feeder system that catches and conveys the corn from the header to the combine threshing system using chains and corn engaging slats coupled to the chains. The chains run on gears (e.g., sprockets) that move the chains in a continuous loop. While conveying the corn to the combine, corn cobs may feed into the chain/gear interface, thereby interfering with the connection, e.g., causing the chains to uncouple from the gears or to skip links. A chain that uncouples or skips links may interfere with the material feeding process, and/or induce wear on the feeder components.